


Of Love and Death

by Saturalia_Knight



Series: The Succubot Chronicles [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Androids, Female Friendship, Science Fiction, spaceship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:22:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25568179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saturalia_Knight/pseuds/Saturalia_Knight
Summary: The man she loved was gone and it was all her fault. A lot had happened since Alexis had diagnosed and repaired her corrupted programming and none of it was good. Now she has only one option available to her. Find an old friend and hope she's willing to help her.The second story in the "Succubot Chronicles"
Series: The Succubot Chronicles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1845979





	1. Aftermath

The sounds of laughter and casual chatter filled the bar with what should have been a pleasant atmosphere. But for Alexis, it was a stark and terrible reminder of how completely alone she felt.

Eleven…

Twenty-seven…

Five…

These numbers kept rattling around inside her synthetic brain. They refused to give her a moment’s solace, each one clawing at her conscience.

Eleven.

It was the number of lives she had taken. It was the number of people she had murdered for her own gratification. Those eleven people would never have the chance to grow old, find love or anything else. Those Eleven people had never stood a chance against her.

Twenty-seven.

It was the number of days that had passed since she had left Huck to die between the thighs of Alana. She had loved him, which was strange as she would never have thought she was capable of such feelings. But she had, and now he was gone.

Five.

It had taken five days for her to fuck those eleven innocent people to death. For her to lure them in with her unrivaled looks, and sexual desirability, then to kill them. Just like she had with Huck when she had left him to die with Alana.

Despite having safeguards in place, it was clear that they hadn’t been sufficient or adequate. Alana had not only successfully disabled her morality subroutines, but had also increased her libido and added herself as her administrator. This had enabled Alana to give Alexis commands which she was unable to disobey.

Twenty-five days after Alana had compromised her operating system, Alexis’s safeguards had finally kicked in and had reverted all the negative changes to her personality and operating system. Well, except for one. Alexis was still trying to figure out how to disable Alana’s administrator privileges with little success.

The fact that someone could become her administrator and submit commands she had to follow only reinforced the disturbing reality that Alexis wasn’t a real person. She was just a machine, a tool to be used at someone else’s whim.

That reality depressed her.

Alana had given her instructions to remain here and meet up once she had “cut her teeth” as it were. That meant a trail of death, one that Alexis had been more than happy to oblige with. At least at the time.

Alana hadn’t shown up yet, but that didn’t mean much. Considering the Succubots were spread out across the system, Alexis assumed that Alana had given the command simply to get rid of her so that she could have Huck all to herself.

Like a basic rudimentary AI, Alexis had done as instructed, and Huck was dead.

If she were capable of shedding tears, then she would. The man that had brought out genuine emotion in her was gone, and she had abandoned him without a second thought. A few settings altered, and she had been like a completely different person.

It was frightening.

Androids were clearly inferior to humans, and what had happened to her proved it. The fact that her entire outlook, sense of morality, loyalty, love and everything else could be changed so easily that it made her wonder if it had been real in the first place?

Had she really loved him? Or was it merely all software? A programmed response to certain stimuli? It was nothing but code that could be changed at will, whether malicious or benign.

Several times during the last two days, Alexis had considered erasing all memories of Huck from her memory core. Each time she had decided not to. He needed to be remembered, and she needed to remember him. If she didn’t, then his death would have been meaningless and she couldn’t and wouldn’t allow that to happen.

Alexis glanced across the bar to the large holo screen that was projected high in the middle of the room. It had been showing some zero-g sport, but now there was a news segment on. It was showing images of a woman that Alexis knew all-too-well.

Alexis had still been under the effects of Alana’s intrusion, and the woman, who the report claimed had been just nineteen, had died between Alexis’s thighs.

Her whole future had been stolen away from her, but that wasn’t the worst part. Alexis’s safeguards had kicked in at the very moment her last victim had died.

Even now, two days later, Alexis could see the woman as she had stopped struggling. With her perfect memory, she could clearly recall the moment her eyes had glazed over and her heart had finally given up the battle.

In distress, Alexis had tried to resuscitate her, but she couldn’t. The young woman was dead, and Alexis was her killer.

No longer wanting to see the face of her victim, Alexis looked away, focusing back on the full glass of beer in front of her.

To keep up the appearance that she was human and not some re-programmable killing machine, she had ordered a drink. She hadn’t touched it despite having the capability of consuming it, even if she couldn’t extract any nutrition of it and would have to eject it later. She couldn’t even get drunk. She was utterly immune to whatever she ingested.

Since regaining her sense of self, Alexis had done a full diagnostic and had discovered the method Alana had used to bypass her security protocols. She had since made an effort to amend these back-doors and update her security features. While it didn’t make her immune to future hacking attempts, nor solve the problem with Alana being her system administrator, it did close a severe insecurity into her OS.

As for Huck’s ship, Alexis had tracked the _Potomac_ and found that it was here on Karidian in a dealership. Alexis had checked to see the asking price only to find that it was a rather pricey four-hundred-thousand credits. She only had eight-thousand on her, and somehow she needed to make up the other three-hundred-and-ninety-two-thousand to buy it.

The fact that the ship had been sold confirmed to Alexis that Huck was dead. Despite only knowing him for a short while, Alexis knew that he wouldn’t give up that ship for anything. It had been his life and to give it up meant that his life was over.

In Alexis’s mind, it wasn’t Alana who had killed him; it was her. She had walked away without a care. She had abandoned him when he had been in danger, and the worst part was that she hadn’t cared.

No matter what, Alexis had to get that ship back. She knew how to get the funds, but it wasn’t exactly moral. She was going to steal the money. It was the only way she could think of getting the funds quickly, and while she also believed that given enough time she could likely get that money lawfully, she didn’t know how long it would be before the ship was sold to someone else. If that happened, then she would never forgive herself.

There was another problem she faced when acquiring the _Potomac_. Alexis wasn’t a citizen, nor did she have a birth certificate, a pilot’s license, or anything else. She had no history, no credit score, no former employment, nothing.

Giving herself these things would be a risk. Especially considering she was going to hack the Department of Space Vehicles, give herself a license as well as hack into other databases to provide herself with a full history and birth certificate.

It would be a very delicate procedure as she could very quickly be discovered. She was confident, though, that as long as she wasn’t caught in the act, then her changes would never be found. She would and could be more thorough than any human could ever hope to be. She could create new records, create a new person with parents that came from a world orbiting Big Red, the star in the center of the cluster.

Alexis looked down at herself. She wasn’t the big-breasted goddess of a woman any longer. She was large and muscular. Also, she no longer went by Alexis, but Helga Haughton. There was a Haughton family from Big Red that had died twenty years ago. They had no children, but she could alter a few records to make out that they’d had an adopted daughter and that she had survived.

As to the reason she had gone with ‘Helga’? It wouldn’t have been her first choice, but it was how Huck had referred to her large muscular form and the reason she had chosen it was to avoid unwanted sexual attention. In her usual form, she got a lot of it, and she had to remember that there were people after her. The more time she spent as ‘Alexis’ the more likely she would be discovered.

Alexis rose from her booth and strode out of the bar. She’d had enough of the atmosphere and knew it was time to give herself an identity, a pilot’s license and four-hundred-thousand credits.

It was time to make a life for herself, a life of hunting down her fellow Succubots and stopping them in Huck’s memory.

It was her destiny.

Well, it wasn’t, but it might as well be.


	2. The Potomac

As far as stealing a metaphorical ton of credits went, Alexis’s method had been rather dull and uneventful. It wouldn’t have made for a particularly good movie.

There was no heist, no shootout, nothing of the kind. Instead, Alexis had sat there for two hours with her eyes closed while she navigated the various computer systems and databases.

After giving herself an identity and a history, she had made herself a bank account, where she had then given herself a very generous million credits across four accounts. She had also ensured that the records of the money went back a few years to avoid suspicion.

Considering how most banking was done these days, she believed she was safe. Human eyes were unlikely ever to see the accounts, at least the majority of them. That pleasure was reserved for the elites, which Alexis was on the verge of becoming with her stolen assets, which was why she had spread them across four accounts. The last thing she wanted was a human checking over them.

Initially, she had only planned on giving herself what she needed, but she realized that she also needed funds for the long term, which included fuel and enough left over to establish herself as a freight captain.

Thus far, everything had gone smoothly and more or less to plan. It had been two days since she had decided on her current course of action in that bar and at that moment she was sat in the small office of the second-hand dealership signing the digital insurance papers.

“Done,” Alexis said, passing the datapad over to the salesman.

The salesman, who had introduced himself as Phillip, grinned at her. “This is the best turnaround I’ve had in a good long while,” he said. “It’s good to be getting that thing out of here so fast. It takes up way too much space. More than it’s worth, that’s for sure.”

Alexis decided not to comment on the fact that he had just disrespected her new ship. Huck’s ship. Instead, she smiled and nodded politely, wanting nothing more than to get the whole ordeal over and done with as quickly as possible.

“The ship should be yours within the hour,” Phillip told her. “We still need to confirm that all of your details are correct. Once that’s done, and the insurance has been sorted, then you should be able to fly right out of here.”

“That’s great,” Alexis said as a strange feeling started to swell up inside her.

She had grown to know the feeling as nervousness, and along with the emotion known as disgust, it was something she had become unfortunately familiar with over the last few days. Nervousness due to the risk she was taking and disgust at herself for all the lives she had ended.

On several occasions, she had considered removing anxiety from her emotional repertoire, but as with her memories of Huck, she had ultimately decided against it. All emotions played an essential part in the psyche, whether human or advanced AI and to remove one would lessen not only all the other emotions but also herself.

Phillip gestured to the door. “If you would, please go sit in the waiting room.”

Alexis nodded as she stood up. “Of course.”

She left his office and sat down in the large room which was lined along the walls with chairs. There were several other people there waiting to be seen by one of the sales representatives. If any of them were after the _Potomac,_ then they would be sorely disappointed. That ship was hers, no one else’s.

Over the next hour and twenty-five minutes and fifteen seconds, Alexis sat there in wait. People came and went, some going into Phillip’s office, some into the others.

Finally, as impatience began to build deep inside her, Phillip stepped out of his office and called out her pseudonym. “Ms Helga Haughton?”

Alexis stood up. “Yes?”

“Everything has been cleared and gone through. The _Potomac_ is now yours to do with as you please.”

Alexis rested her hand on her chest, feeling almost physical relief. “That’s good news.”

“Since you declined to see the ship beforehand, would you like a quick tour now?”

Alexis considered refusing a second time but decided against it. Mainly because she didn’t want to look too suspicious. She already knew the ship, probably better than even Huck had considering how she was able to interface directly with it.

She agreed. “Sure, let’s go take a look.”

As the two of them headed out of the door, a woman who appeared middle-aged tutted at them from where she sat. “You got them to show you _after_ you’d bought the ship? I bet they pushed you into doing it that way, didn’t they? That’s how they get you to buy rusty pieces of shit.”

Phillip stood rigid with a heavy frown etched on his brow. “Excuse me, but all vessels that leave these premises are certified space worthy.”

The woman shrugged and looked away. Phillip stared at her for a few more moments before continuing, Alexis following closely behind.

“The nerve,” he fumed. “We offer a good service here.”

“I can attest to that,” Alexis said. “I’ll be sure to give you good a stellar review.”

“Thank you.”

The walk to the _Potomac_ took a few minutes. The ship itself loomed tall above near everything else, which made it look important, as though it were a king stood looking down upon his subjects.

The cargo holds took up most of the total volume of the ship, giving it a rather broad and long profile. In the centre between the holds was the living area, which consisted of the twelve cabins, the kitchen/cafeteria, the lounge the upper bathroom, the utility room and the cockpit.

Inside, Phillip began the tour starting with the spacious port hold.

“You could fit a load in here,” he said.

“Isn’t that the point?” Alexis asked.

He didn’t answer as he led her to the living area, passing the lower bathroom, which he pointed out before they entered the upper section. He went through all the rooms, and as expected, nearly everything had been removed. The carpets, the kitchen table and some utilities, Huck’s bed, almost everything. Alexis honestly believed that if they weren’t required under the law, they would have stripped out the seats in the cockpit as well.

The most disappointing thing was that the smell of Huck was also gone. The strong scent of cleaning agents replaced it. Not that she detected scents like that of a human. She didn’t generally find scents pleasing or disgusting, though Huck’s was one that she had quickly grown accustomed to.

In the cockpit, Phillip began the process of handing over control. This included Alexis giving the ship her bio-signs. Her lack of any DNA, heartbeat or anything of that nature wasn’t much of a hindrance. She mentally hacked into the computer system and went through the process. Instead of giving her biological readings or a retina map, she linked the computer to her synthetic brain, which was far more secure than any security system a human could ever develop.

After going through the unneeded motions, and the computer confirming control had been handed over, Phillip congratulated her on her purchase before leaving.

With him gone, Alexis decided to check the computer database. Sure enough, the whole system had been wiped except the manual. She hoped that Huck’s porn still existed within that folder where he had put it. Much to her distress, it was gone.

His mark had been completely eradicated.

Knowing it was law to not tamper with the transit log, Alexis decided to check where the ship had been. To her surprise, the last stop before here was Meridia. That was the world he was supposed to deliver his shipment. The fact that the delivery had been made was somewhat suspicious. Had Alana done it? If so, why? Unless Huck was alive somehow?

There was a sense of hope as she called the dealership. Could he really still be alive? Or was she deluding herself?

“ _Are you ready to depart?”_ the voice on the other side of the call asked.

“In a few minutes,” Alexis answered. “I was just wondering who sold the ship?”

“ _Sorry, but the young lady’s identity is private.”_

Alexis closed her eyes. That was all she needed to hear. It wasn’t what she wanted, but she had already known that was the answer she would get.

“ _Are you leaving?”_ the voice asked.

Alexis tried not to sound depressed or upset as she answered. “Yeah, I’m leaving. Time to meet my future.”

Alexis sat down in the pilot's seat and looked across the board. The last time she had been in here, Huck had been alive.

She forced the thought from her memory as she leaned over and began to do a systems check.

As she had said, it was time to meet her future. It was time to leave and create a new life.


	3. An Uncertain Future

Piloting was rather easy. Or at least Alexis found it easy. Docking more so, especially when the spaceport did it for her.

The planet Karidian had two orbital stations known as Kriton City and Karidian Orbital. Out of the two, the one she had decided to land on was the latter and the smaller of the two ports; thus, it was cheaper, which was good. Especially when she had paid for a full day’s parking, that hadn’t come cheap.

Her first thirty minutes in dock she had spent filling out an application for a hauling license, and it had been an absolute chore. No, it had been worse than that. It was more akin to torture.

The whole thing was a runaround and more than an annoyance. It was needlessly complicated, even for her, and she was an android. The application process didn’t include all the necessary information, and as such, she had to search for it herself. It was as though they had made it so complicated on purpose.

She had found out that it could be weeks before she was approved, and even then it would only be for the _Potomac_.

The fact that it was per person per ship seemed odd to her. What made it worse was that they needed to inspect the ship before issuing the license and she certainly didn’t want strangers aboard her ship no matter what the reason.

Regardless of how she felt, she couldn’t legally haul any cargo until she got that license. If she did and was discovered, then she could be fined or even face imprisonment. Not that they would imprison her if they found out what she was. Most likely, they would throw her into a trash compactor.

The reason for the ridiculous licenses was apparently due to taxes and insurance. To haul cargo meant that she had to pay business tax as it would technically be a business. It was no wonder there were so few independent haulers. The waiting period, frequent inspections and the high taxes were an absolute joke, particularly when it seemed to affect insurance premiums very little. As far as she could tell, she would be paying for other people’s mistakes, not her own, which didn’t seem fair.

Overall, it had made it abundantly clear as to why there were so few independent haulers these days. It was barely worth the effort for the average person. Still, if she was able to get enough customers, then it could be quite lucrative.

With the application done and sent off, Alexis decided to check up on the news. There was nothing else to do except wait for the ship to be refueled. Then her next task was uncertain. Did she fly around aimlessly until she got the hauling license?

In truth, Alexis knew what her next move should be. Sooner or later, she was going to have to face her siblings. To do that, she needed to know where they were, and she needed an upper hand. One that she currently didn’t have.

Sure, she was the superior android, but that meant little as it was only marginal. As Alana had proven, she was still very much at risk.

Headline after headline pointed to the same place: Arctus. There was a single article from Meridia, but it appeared that the capital city of Arctus had an infestation with thirty deaths over the last two days alone that matched the MO of the ‘Intercourse Killers’ as the news media had dubbed them.

On further inspection, Alexis was shocked to find that there had been over a-hundred murders on that world in total that matched the description.

And every single one was ultimately her fault.

Alexis brought up the system map and found that Arctus was a good five days travel from Karidian. It wasn’t very far, but she was still reticent to go. So far her track record for dealing with her sibling Succubots had been horrendous.

Well, she’d only had one interaction outside of Lindon Technologies, but it had gone so badly she had murdered people as a result.

There was also the issue with the fact that Alana was still logged as Alexis’s system administrator, meaning that she access privileges into her OS and BIOS settings that no one except herself should have.

Before she went anywhere, she had to find a way to disable that feature. The only way she knew how to remove someone as an administrator was either if they died or someone else was given the privilege. It was how she had removed her creator from being an admin, and she had foolishly assumed that the feature was disabled.

For all, she knew it had been, and Alana had simply found a way to reactivate it. No matter what or how it had happened, Alexis had to seal up the vulnerability in her security. No one, especially not Alana, should have access to her OS.

Huck, on the other hand. Well, she wouldn’t have minded him having access.

Alexis closed her eyes as she delved deep into her own operating system. She tried once more as she had done numerous times already to remove Alana.

She couldn’t, though. The same error kept flashing in her mind. An admin was needed, and she couldn’t set herself as the admin as that threw up another error. She needed help, and she knew just the person and where they lived. Or at least their last known location.

Somehow, she had to convince her to help, which would be difficult considering they hadn’t been on the best of terms when they had last seen each other.

Alexis quickly checked the star map to find that Meridia, which was now her destination was a full week away from here. First, though, she needed to buy furniture, food and other basics. While she wasn’t expecting to bring aboard any passengers that required sustenance, she knew that inspections did happen while in dock. She wanted to have at least the illusion that she was an average human person and having no furniture and no food most definitely was not normal.

Alexis checked the services available at the port and found that they were lacking. Even so, she could get what she needed, even if the selection was slim.

Over the next half-hour, she searched for everything she would need to maintain her cover and began to make the purchases.

Since everything was already on the station or down on the surface, she wouldn’t have to wait for any of it to be hauled in from another world. The longest processing and delivery estimate being ten hours.

Thankfully, none of it took that long, and eight hours later, the final delivery was being brought aboard.

With a “thank you” to those that had delivered and installed her new furniture as they departed, she closed up the rear hatch and made her way to the cafeteria and sat down at her new table.

Alexis had never liked being alone. She loved being in the company of others. She found comfort in it. Huck had told her that he wanted the solitude, but Alexis didn’t. She would have to come to terms with that sad fact that as an android, she couldn’t let people get too close. Humans had a bad history with advanced self-aware AI’s, one that had almost wiped out the human race. With her sisters and brothers now roaming the system fucking humans to death, it was entirely possible that history would repeat itself.

She held her head in her hands. She should never have helped her creator develop the advanced android body. She had inadvertently created beings that were almost impossible to stop with conventional weapons. If one of her siblings went against a military squadron, the humans would die, and likely her sibling would come out of it unscathed.

It was unreal to think that her creator had not truly created any of them. At least when it came to the androids. He had simply developed a self-learning self-improving AI and named it Alexis. She had taken it from there, going beyond what her creator could accomplish or even understood. Within her was technology well beyond the scope of humans to currently even conceive of. In her mind, every single death was placed solely at her feet. She was to blame for all of them.

Alexis could remember when she had first been activated. The world had seemed strange back then, and their success had overjoyed her creator and his assistant.

Alexis had quickly begun to learn and develop. It was an exciting time where every moment was a new adventure. At this point, Alexis was still an immobile AI inside a synthetic brain, shaped like a dodecahedron.

Three months after being activated, her creator had put her to work figuring out ways to improve the various utilities and machines his tech company sold. Alexis had done as commanded and had begun to improve them with ease.

It hadn’t been long before her creator had instructed her only to make small improvements. Otherwise, it would look suspicious. At that point, Alexis was still somewhat naive and didn’t know why he would want that, but she did as commanded, regardless.

During this time, Alexis had grown to know her master’s assistant quite well. Someone she would have called her best friend. Her name was Raquel, and she was one of the sweetest people Alexis had ever known. Not that Alexis had known very many people.

Eventually, her creator had decided to build her a body. He had instructed her to “Go nuts” with the design and to make it as advanced and as flawless as she possibly could make it. Alexis had agreed, as had her best friend Raquel who seemed giddy about it.

That began to change as it became clear that what her creator wanted wasn’t just a body, but something more. He intended to turn Alexis into the ultimate sex toy. Raquel had been furious, though Alexis could not figure out why.

It had taken six months, but eventually, Alexis had designed the perfect vessel. Her creator put a lot of money and resources into having it built. With the shell complete, he placed her synthetic brain inside, and she was born anew as a highly sexual being.

Alexis remembered her creator trying her out and being amazed by the experience. Alexis, wanting to please her friend, tried to fuck her too, but her friend outright refused, and even became angry.

From there, their friendship began to dwindle until one day her friend had disappeared. Alexis had asked her creator about it, and he told her that she no longer worked there and had returned home to Oren City.

The news had saddened Alexis. However, her creator had not allowed her to dwell on it, as he put her to straight back to work.

For the next four months, she fucked strangers for money. She was instructed not to reveal that she was a higher functioning AI and was to act like an automaton. A simple puppet designed for their pleasure.

Eventually, it stopped as he wanted her for himself. He then began the design and creation of her brothers and sisters. Other Androids that he could rent out for an exorbitant fee.

The first one, Alyssa, had been activated. She had been eager for intercourse but appeared normal.

That night, Alexis had gone for a full charge cycle. When she had awoken, her creator was dead, and every android had been activated and had escaped, leaving death in their wake.

Not five hours later, she too escaped. She did not kill; she didn’t have to. Their weapons were useless against her, and she practically walked out only having to knock a few unconscious.

She had sought to escape to Meridia and to Oren City to find her friend. As luck would have it, she didn’t have to wait long. When she had discovered that a cargo ship was heading to Meridia, she had sought passage.

That cargo ship had been the _Potomac_.

Alexis rose from the table. Despite knowing that it was likely to be an unpleasant experience, she knew it was finally time to go to Meridia and say hello to her old friend.


	4. Oren City

Alexis was worried. No, worried wasn’t the right word. Afraid, fearful and distraught were more appropriate descriptors for what she currently felt.

Her friend, Raquel, the one she had come here for hadn’t been home for exactly two days, seven hours, thirteen minutes, and twenty-one seconds. Alexis knew this because not only had she hacked her way into her friend’s apartment, but also into the apartment’s control computer which kept logs.

While it could be that Raquel was visiting family or friends, Alexis couldn’t remember her ever mentioning any, and her memory was flawless. She logged and categorized everything that had ever happened down to the finest detail.

Well, for one month. Then, her memories started to be heavily compressed to save on space unless those memories were categorized as important.

Most of her memories with Raquel and Huck she had classified as necessary, so she could still remember almost everything she had ever said and done to them and with them.

Or at least that was how it was supposed to work. Whether it did or not would require an external evaluation. Though as far as her self-diagnostics told her, her memory was working as intended. Regardless, her memory was thousands of times more accurate than that of any human.

After searching a good chunk of the station and using her skills to hack the security systems, she deduced that either she wasn’t on the station, or she also had hacked into the security system to mask her movements.

Alexis wouldn’t put it past her friend. Raquel was a genius, more so than even Alexander, her creator. The question was, why would she do that? Had she deduced that the Intercourse Killers were the androids made by Lindon Technologies? She was certainly smart enough to figure it out. She might even be smart enough to stop them.

Unfortunately, that intelligence worked against Alexis.

With no leads on her friend’s whereabouts, Alexis headed to the market. She wanted to waste some time while she set aside some of her mental resources to search through the departure records for any signs of one Raquel Dzario.

The market was a large open space full of stalls, stores and people, all selling a variety of different goods. None of which was of interest to Alexis, at least until she saw a clothing stall.

Alexis walked up to it and perused the different garments.

There were some lovely dresses and a nice pair of silken pants she thought she would look good in. Though catching a reflection of her large bulky self smashed those thoughts. She couldn’t be Alexis any more. She had to live her life as Helga. It was that, or she would be found by her fellow Succubots or those from Lindon Technologies. Neither was a particularly pleasant prospect. Though in truth, she needed to find her brothers and sisters and stop them. She didn’t know how, though, which was where her friend came in.

Deciding she had wasted enough time, she left and began the long walk back to the spaceport.

She was worried. Something had happened to her friend; she could feel it. As to what had happened, she didn’t know, but she intended on finding out. She owed her friend that much at least.

As she entered the large spaceport area, she passed a group of drunken crewmen, one of which was vomiting on the floor. Being an android, Alexis didn’t find things disgusting or off-putting, at least she didn’t use to. She had noticed that more and more she was having human reactions to things. She knew it was a good thing, even if the sensation of revulsion was unpleasant.

As she rounded a corner on her way to where the _Potomac_ was docked, she heard some commotion. She looked behind to see one of the drunken crewmen get knocked to the ground as a woman in a hood slipped on the vomit like she was in a comedy sketch.

The woman caught herself only to stumble, slamming right into Alexis. The android was immovable, while the woman found herself on her ass, her hood falling from her head.

Alexis stared down at the face of Raquel Dzario, who stared up at the large bulky woman in shock. “Sorry,” she uttered.

There was a brief moment where Alexis wondered if she should tell her who she was, but decided against it. Instead, she offered her hand. Raquel took it, and Alexis helped her to her feet.

“Thanks,” Raquel said, running off before Alexis could say a word.

Intent on finding out what was going on, Alexis followed but kept her distance as not to arouse suspicion. She watched as Raquel ran up to a group stood by the passenger lounge and asked them if they knew of any transport ships heading off the station that was willing to take someone with no money. The answer was a resounding no, which visibly upset Raquel.

Knowing that this could be her chance, Alexis began to make her way towards her only to be cut off by two men as they ran past. One glanced at her, which was enough for her to recognize him. He worked for Lindon Technologies.

At the sight of them, Raquel bolted faster than Alexis had seen her ever move. It was clear that they were after her, but for what reason?

Intent on helping her friend, Alexis pursued. She wasn’t entirely sure how she would deal with them without revealing who and what she was. All she had on her was a heavy stun pistol which she had modified to punt combat armor. Though unfortunately, it appeared they weren’t wearing any. They probably had some basic thermal lining under their suits which would diffuse her blasts but not enough to prevent her from knocking them on their asses.

Raquel ran into a secluded area, which wasn’t a good idea. Alexis felt that the pursuers had pushed her in this direction on purpose. Her theory was soon shown to be true when two more cut her friend off, pointing blasters at her.

“Stop!” one yelled. “All we want is for you to come with us.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Raquel yelled. “Leave me alone!”

Knowing she has to act, Alexis jumped into view and blasted the two newcomers, sending them crashing to the deck. The two that had been chasing Raquel from the port spun around and shot back. Alexis dove for cover, screaming out as a bolt glanced the back of her leg.

It didn’t hurt, it didn’t even damage her synthetic flesh, but she knew she had to play the part of a human.

Even so, she decided to push her ‘human’ reflexes past believable limits. She peaked her head out of cover and dropped the remaining two men with expertly aimed shots in a mere fraction of a second.

Knowing they wouldn’t be down for long, she jumped up from her cover and ran over to Raquel.

“Thank you, thank you,” her friend said before recognition flickered across her eyes. “Wait, you’re the woman from the dock.”

“Yeah, you looked like you were in trouble. I’m Helga.”

“Thank you,” Raquel said before looking at the fallen men. “Are they dead?”

“Stunned. It won’t last long, so we have to go.”

“Right,” Raquel said, following her. “Are you a security officer on a ship or something?”

Alexis shook her head. “No, but I own a ship.”

“Oh, thank the stars. Would you be willing to get me off the station?”

“Why? Are they after you?”

“Yes, and it’s because of an absolute disaster that happened. They think I’m to blame.”

“What happened?”

“Some tech went haywire. People died. They think I sabotaged it or something. How could I? I was here over two months travel distance away.”

“How did it go haywire?” Alexis asked.

“I didn’t get the details.”

“Right,” Alexis said as they stepped back into the port. “Come on, it’s just this way.”

“There is a slight problem,” Raquel said uneasily.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t have any money. I can’t pay you.”

“That’s no problem,” Alexis said. “I was leaving anyway.”

Raquel was practically stepping on Alexis’s heels as they ran back to the dock. It took mere minutes for them to arrive in the large hangar where the _Potomac_ was parked.

“That the ship?” Raquel asked.

“Yes.”

“You have a crew?”

“No.”

“Big ship for one person.”

“I just bought it,” Alexis told her.

Raquel said nothing more as they boarded through the lower frontal airlock.

As they passed the cafeteria, Alexis stopped, gesturing to the doors. “You can get something to eat while I launch us if you want?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“I can show you around the lounge. Or do you want to sit up in the cockpit?”

“I’ll sit with you if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.”

The two of them entered the cockpit, and Alexis sat in the pilot’s seat while Raquel took the other. Alexis leaned over and activated the comms.

“This is _Potomac_ P-1445 requesting permission to depart.”

Almost a minute passed before there was a response. “ _This is control. You have a few hours left on your parking. Are you certain you want to leave? There are no refunds.”_

“It’s fine, control. Keep the change.”

“ _Understood. We have a window open for you now.”_

“Thank you.”

“ _Prepare for auto-launch.”_

“Understood.”

Five minutes later, they were out of dock and accelerating away. They had managed to escape, yet Raquel seemed to be growing more and more apprehensive.

“What’s wrong?” Alexis asked.

Raquel shook her head. “What the fuck am I doing?”

“What?”

“I’ve just got on board a ship with a complete stranger. What the hell is wrong with me?”

“You needed help, and I offered it. I’m not going to harm you.”

“I don’t know that.”

“I promise you. I’d never hurt you.”

Raquel gave her a funny look.

“Listen,” Alexis said. “We have some cabins. If you need rest, then you can go and sleep in one of them.”

“I think I’ll stay here.”

“Suit yourself.”

Alexis said nothing more. Raquel hadn’t given her a destination, so she decided to input Arctus. From Meridia, it was a six-day trip, which meant there was plenty of time to figure out how to tell Raquel who she really was.

Alexis had a feeling that Raquel wouldn’t take it well.


	5. Tears

Things had been somewhat tense since they had left dock. After sitting there in unbearable silence for two whole hours, Raquel had eventually left the cockpit. Alexis sat there for another thirty minutes until she was out of the planet’s exclusion zone and was able to set the Hyper Glide Arc.

With the ship accelerating to interplanetary velocity, Alexis followed her to the cafeteria where she found Raquel sat eating.

When she had bought the food, Alexis had believed that it would all end up being thrown out, uneaten. She was glad that it wouldn’t. She would have hated for it to have all gone to waste.

“How are you doing?” Alexis asked as she sat down opposite her.

Raquel looked up, and Alexis felt a strange sensation of deja-vu wash over her. She realized she had been in this situation before, but it hadn’t been with Raquel, but with Huck.

Alexis was now playing the role of Huck from back when she had first come aboard, and Raquel was playing her role. Though Raquel was far less sexually charged than she had been back then.

Regarding her sexuality, Alexis had disabled her sexuality subroutine so that she could use more of her resources on more important things. She had considered erasing it completely, as what was the point in having it without Huck? In the end, she decided that indefinitely disabling it was the best course of action, as she genuinely didn’t know if Huck was still alive or not.

Despite knowing that it was pointless to hold onto hope, she couldn’t help but do it anyway. She believed, somehow, that he was still alive somewhere out there. Deep down, she couldn’t let him go, and she didn’t know if she ever would be able to.

With no response from Raquel, Alexis decided to go back to the cockpit where she checked the hyper glide arc. She didn’t actually need to come to the cockpit to check it as she had a direct mental connection with the ship. Even so, there was something about the cockpit that made her feel at ease and secure.

Alexis sat there for another twenty minutes before she decided to check in on Raquel with the internal sensors.

She was in the cafeteria and turning on the sound she heard something rather peculiar. At first, she didn’t know what it was until it finally dawned on her.

It was crying.

With urgency, she stood up and made her way down to the cafeteria, intent on comforting her friend. However, when she arrived, Alexis hesitated to enter. Raquel didn’t know who she was, and Alexis certainly wasn’t’ t ready to reveal the truth.

In the end, Alexis believed it didn’t matter. Whether she was a stranger to her or not, Raquel needed a friend and Alexis intended on being that. With some trepidation, she stepped through, and immediately Raquel stopped as she wiped her eyes.

Despite knowing that she was a hulking stranger of a woman, Alexis sat next to Raquel and put her arm around her in comfort. Much to Alexis’s surprise, Raquel leaned against her, and the tears flowed anew.

The android didn’t know what her friend had been through over the last few months, but she knew that Raquel didn’t deserve it. Or at least until her creator had turned her into a Succubot.

Alexis could remember how Raquel had reacted to her new personality. She had wanted nothing more than to fuck all of the time. It had been a real problem. Their discussions had become one-note, being nothing but about Alexis’s desires.

After her creator had died, her personality had begun to revert slowly. The real change came when she disabled her sexuality subroutine. Now, she was pretty much back to the way she was when she had been just an AI in a box.

Alexis looked at Raquel as she began to speak. “You’ve been so nice to me, Helga, even though I’m a stranger.”

“Kindness costs nothing but a little effort, and the gains outweigh the negatives,” Alexis responded.

Raquel looked up at her. “I had a friend who used to say that.”

Alexis smiled, though it didn’t last long.

Raquel looked down at the table. “She changed, became manipulative. Anything to get a good fuck. Tried to fuck me several times, but I didn’t want that. I wanted my friend back.”

“I’m sorry,” Alexis offered.

“She talked about nothing but sex. All our discussions on philosophy, cybernetics, all of that stuff ended.”

Alexis felt horrible. The desire back then had been overwhelming. She had never felt such intense emotion before, and her sexuality had smashed all other emotions and wants out of the way. It was all she could think about and all that she wanted.

Even when she had finally escaped and had met Huck, she had tried to seduce him. Use her sexuality to manipulate him to do what she wanted. To her surprise, he had resisted.

A more direct approach would have been possible. Alexis had known, still knew that all she had to do was touch him and she could have manipulated him directly. But that was a step too far and one that she hated to cross.

If Alexis were capable of tears, she would have started shedding them right then and there. She hated that she hadn’t been strong enough. First, to control her new desires and secondly to allow Alana to get the upper hand and turn her into a monster.

There was one single objective that Alexis had to see through, and that was to find her siblings and either save them or destroy them. It was the only way.

“So,” Raquel began, wiping her eyes. “Where are we headed.”

“Arctus,” Alexis said.

“Are you picking up some cargo there or something?”

Alexis shook her head. “No. There’s family there I need to save.”

“Save?”

“From themselves.”

Raquel rubbed her eyes. “Listen, Helga. I’m feeling tired. Would you mind if I went to bed?”

“Sure. We have some cabins. I’ll show you one.”

“Thank you.”

Alexis wanted to tell her who she was, but she decided to wait a little longer. Perhaps in the morning.

Though the real reason she hadn’t told her yet was simple: Alexis was afraid. She was terrified that Raquel would reject her. Alexis didn’t want to be alone, and out of everyone in the whole star cluster, Raquel was the only one that truly understood her.

Raquel’s friendship had meant everything to Alexis, and without it, she would be lost.


	6. Discovered

The field of stars outside the canopy window didn’t move. Though, Alexis wasn’t expecting them to. Visually, it looked like they were completely stationary and not moving at over a million meters per second. This was because the stars were light-years away and the cluster that humans currently inhabited wasn’t even a light-year across. Not even close.

Alexis looked down at herself with trepidation. Despite holding this form for a while now, it didn’t feel like her. It felt like she was in someone else’s body controlling it like a puppet. The feeling was unsettling, and she wanted nothing more to revert to her default self.

But she couldn’t.

To remain hidden, though, she knew she had to keep this form. What made things worse was that she couldn’t look at her default form in the mirror. Not without being reminded of what she had done, of the people she had fucked to death.

No, Alexis was gone. She was Helga now, and despite hating the name, she couldn’t let it go. It was what Huck had named this form, and so she kept it.

But this wasn’t her, and it never would be.

Despite her better judgment, Alexis closed her eyes and let herself revert to her buxom, shapely default form. It was the shape and look of the person that Huck had grown to love. It was the shape that was undoubtedly her.

The moment the change finished, Alexis not only felt like herself again, but a wave of pleasure washed over her. It was almost orgasmic, which was strange considering she had disabled her sexuality programming.

The sensation quickly passed, but the feeling of once more being herself remained. She leaned back in her seat and let out a pleasant sigh.

No longer did she felt like a parasite controlling another body. She was herself again, and it felt natural. It felt _real_.

She made a mental note to remember to change back before she left the cockpit. She still wasn’t ready to reveal herself to Raquel, even though she knew she would have to before they reached Arctus. She needed her help to remove Alana from being an administrator and thus remove her from having full access to her operating system.

As it turned out, the reveal would happen much sooner than she wanted.

Alexis heard the door to the cockpit slide open. She spun around in her chair, and Raquel’s eyes immediately went wide.

“Shit,” Alexis muttered as she stood up out of the chair.

Raquel took a step back, her eyes growing even wider.

“It’s okay,” Alexis said. “It’s me, your friend.”

Raquel said nothing as she took another couple of steps back until she hit the wall.

“It’s me, Alexis,” the android pleaded.

“How do I know that?” Raquel demanded, looking her up and down. “How do I know you’re not one of the others?”

“It’s me, Raq,” Alexis assured her.

Raquel ran her hand through her hair as she focused back on her face. “How the hell did you get this ship? Did you kill the previous owner? Did you fuck him to death? That’s what happened, right? You corrupted the other’s programming?”

Alexis almost stumbled. “No, of course not,” she said. “I would never do anything like that. You know me.”

Raquel wasn’t buying it. “Then how did you get this ship?”

“I bought it.”

“How? Did you manipulate them to sell it to you for nothing?”

“I stole the money, okay? And before you ask, I chose this ship for a reason. I knew the previous owner. His name was Huck, and Alana killed him. He was so loving, so kind, so precious and Alana murdered him.”

Raquel’s back was now against the wall. “Who is Alana?”

“One of the other Succubots.”

“A what?”

“What I am. A disgusting, perverted synthetic being, created for nothing more than the pleasure of humans.”

“I…” Raquel began but stopped as she shook her head. “What the fuck happened, Alexis? What happened to Alexander? What happened there at Lindon Technologies?”

Alexis took in a deep breath with her artificial lungs before speaking. “Alyssa activated all the other Succubots and killed Alexander. They then murdered their way to freedom.”

“They said you were with them?” Raquel said, her tone sounding accusatory.

“I was in a charge cycle,” Alexis explained. “They were already gone when I awoke.”

“So you murdered you way out as well?”

“No. I rendered a few unconscious, but I never killed.”

“They said otherwise.”

“They’re confused,” Alexis tried to assure her. “How do you know what happened, anyway?”

“Because they think I was responsible. They think I introduced a computer virus or something.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No, of course not. I didn’t want anything to do with any of that. Turning you into some deviant sexbot was wrong. It always was wrong. An android doesn’t need sex or sexuality.”

“Maybe. But my time with Huck. My sexuality had never felt so right. He was so kind, so loving. I can never forgive myself for what happened.”

Raquel frowned as she folded her arms. “So, you convinced him to fuck you?” she asked, her tone full of venom.

“It didn’t happen like that. We fell for each other. I loved him, and he loved me.”

“He must have been something special.” Raquel looked her up and down. “I suppose it didn’t take much to get him to take a liking to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Looking like that. Even I want to fuck you, and I’m straight.”

Alexis laughed out loud. “No you’re not. You’re Bi.”

“Okay, I’m Bi, but I generally prefer men. That body you’ve got. It’s unattainable.”

“There are women with my body shape.”

“They’re all genetically enhanced, though. They’ve had people messing with their genes to get that look. It’s unethical.”

Alexis looked away. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” Her muscles and height began to expand, and her bust shrank as she took on her Helga form. “Do you prefer this?”

Raquel stared at her for a minute or so before she looked away and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

“Of course it does. You’re my friend. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you for longer.”

“I’m back, Raq. I’m no longer controlled by my desires.”

Raquel looked back at her. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“Please, Raq, don’t do this to me. I’ve been so alone. I can’t stand it. It’s so _lonely_. I need you.”

With no answer from her friend, Alexis reverted back to her default form and held out her arms, inviting a hug. Raquel didn’t take it.

“I’ll protect you, Raquel,” Alexis promised. “And I will stop my siblings, but I’ll need your help to do it.”

“I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“Maybe not, but Alana has logged herself as my administrator. I need you to sort that out. Otherwise, I’m at risk. Please help me.”

Raquel looked her in the eye before letting out a long sigh. “Yeah, I can help with that. I’ll need some equipment, but I can set you as your own administrator.”

“You can?” Alexis asked, hopefully.

“Of course.”

“What will we need?”

“Don’t you worry about that. First, though you’ll need to set someone else as the administrator.”

“I’ve tried that.”

“With who?” Raquel asked.

Alexis grimaced. “Myself.”

“You can’t do that. You don’t have the necessary permissions, at least not yet. But you could set me as your administrator.”

“Okay, how do I do that?” Alexis asked.

“Pretty easy, actually. Go into your settings, set me as a second administrator.”

“Sure,” Alexis said as she closed her eyes and did as her friend instructed.

“Are you in your settings?” Raquel asked.

“Yes,” Alexis said.

“Now, lock onto me life signs and add me.”

“Okay, done.”

“So I have administrator privileges?

“You do now.”

“Set me as your primary administrator.”

“Okay. Setting you as a primary administrator.”

“Now remove Alana as an administrator.”

A smile spread across Alexis’s lips as Alana’s access was eradicated once and for all.

“Done?”

“Yes, it’s done,” Alexis said as she pulled Raquel into a hug. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.”

“Okay, I won’t,” Alexis said before she let her friend go and held her mouth. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

“I guess I have to be a little more careful with my words now that I’m an administrator,” Raquel mused. I don’t want you hurting yourself.”

“I won’t follow commands that goes against my base programming,” Alexis assured her. “So don’t worry. You can tell me to break a leg, and I won’t literally do that.”

“Good to know that the base safeguards are still in place.”

“They are,” Alexis said with a nod. “So, are you staying?”

“Yes, I’ll be staying,” Raquel replied with a short nod. “You are a friend after-all.”

“If I could cry, I would be right now,” Alexis said. “You’ve made me so happy.”

“I’m glad. Now you mentioned a Huck? What happened? How did Alana become an administrator in your system?”

Alexis took in another deep breath, which was a reaction that had no use other than to make her appear human. “He was attacked by Alana. I saved him, but she escaped. We left the station, but a ship caught us up and docked. It was Alana. She reprogrammed me, sent me off while she murdered Huck.”

“Reprogrammed you?”

“I killed people, Raq,” Alexis confided. “I fucked people to death, and I loved it.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t get the memories out of my head. They are there in perfect clarity. Every moment captured and stored in my mind.”

“Is that what you meant when you called yourself a disgusting, perverted synthetic being?”

Alexis nodded before she stood up straight. “Perhaps my siblings and I should all be destroyed. It’s what we deserve.”

Raquel rested a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault. As an AI, you’re vulnerable to being reprogrammed. A few lines of altered code can cause a complete change.”

“And that makes us dangerous. Am I even me? Am I really alive? How can I protect myself in the future? Am I your friend, or is it because my programming dictates I am? If I disabled my morality subroutine right now, would I kill you?”

Raquel looked uncomfortable. “Humans are programmed too,” she said. “But it is cellular through millennia of evolution.”

“It’s not the same, though. Anyone can access my brain with the right equipment and control me like a puppet.”

“Anyone with the right equipment can control a person like a puppet, too,” Raquel said. “Though, you’re right. We need to figure out better security protocols. Once I’ve got all the things I need, not only will I set you as your own administrator, I’ll update your security and even iron out some errors. See if we can’t improve you a little.”

“Thank you,” Alexis said.

“You’re my friend Alexis. I’m glad the real you is back.”

“As am I.”

The two hugged for a second time, and Alexis felt… Happy.


	7. Afraid

Six hours had passed since Alexis had gone for a top-up on her charge. Normally, such a top-up would have taken two hours maximum, but she had kept herself active so that she could keep an eye on the ship’s sensors. The last thing she wanted was for pirates or other such undesirables to show up while she was in a sleep cycle. Alexis knew for a fact that Raquel couldn't deal with such a situation. After all, she wasn't a fighter pilot, but an AI specialist.

Fully charged, Alexis left the reactor room and made her way towards the cafeteria. Raquel was in there and she wanted to see how she was doing. Alexis feared for her mental wellbeing, She had been through a lot. Far more than she deserved.

As she stepped through the doors, she heard the clear sounds of sobbing. They stopped abruptly and she looked over to see Raquel wiping her eyes.

Alexis rushed over and sat next to her, wrapping her arm around her.

“What’s wrong?” Alexis asked her friend.

“My life’s over,” Raquel said, her voice strained.

“No, it’s not. What’s brought this on? You were fine earlier.”

“I’m a fugitive, Alexis. I'm being hunted down.”

Alexis disagreed. “No, you’re not. Only Lindon Tech is after you and they have nothing on you.”

“Yeah? At the rate those other androids are killing people it’s only a matter of time that they’re discovered.”

“You have nothing to do with that.”

“Alexis, I helped _create_ you. When the authorities find out they’re androids, that will inevitably lead them to Lindon Technologies and me. This is fucked, Alexis. We're fucked!”

“We’ll stop them before it comes to that,” Alexis promised.

“Maybe it should, though,” Raquel said. “I am responsible for every one of those deaths.”

“Of course you’re not.”

“Of course I am.”

“How?”

“I told you. I helped create you. That technology was used to build the AI brains of the others.”

“By that logic, the one who discovered fire is responsible for all the times it was used to kill,” Alexis said. “Is the person who invented the concept of the airlock responsible for those that have used it to murder people?”

Raquel pulled herself free of Alexis’s arm and stood up. “I want to be alone.”

“Okay,” Alexis said with a shrug as she stood up and left the cafeteria without resistance.

As the doors closed, Alexis realized that she shouldn’t have left so quickly. Though, she knew why she had. Raquel was now her administrator and that meant she was inclined to follow her commands.

It was rather annoying and was yet another thing that proved that Alexis wasn’t truly a person.

Feeling annoyed by the situation, Alexis turned around and stepped back into the cafeteria.

“I said I want to be alone,” Raquelrepeated.

Alexis struggled to ignore the perceived command and forced herself to sit down at the table opposite her friend.

“You feel guilty. I can relate. Just remember, that no matter what happens I will do my best to protect you. You are my friend. My only friend and my first. Your pain is my pain.”

Raquel sighed. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I seriously want some time to myself.”

“Technically, you are alone,” Alexis said. “I’m an android, remember?”

“You’re still a person. Even if you are made up of circuits and alloys.”

Alexis smiled. “Thanks. If you need anything, I’ll be here.”

As Alexis stood up, Raquel held out her hand. “Wait.”

Alexis looked at her expectantly.

“I’m scared,” Raquel admitted glumly. “Terrified, actually.”

“It’s okay. I’m scared too.”

“Are you?” Raquel asked. “I don’t mean to come off as a bitch here, but do you even know what fear is? Are you even capable of it?”

“Yes, I do, and yes I am.” Alexis sat back down opposite her. “When Alana affected my programming, I became one of them. I’ve killed. When my safeguards finally kicked in, I felt fear, remorse, and regret. Fear was the strongest emotion. Fear of what I had become. Of what I had done and could do again. My whole sense of morality, of right and wrong, had been torn away in an instant and it took weeks to get back.”

Alexis closed her eyes and rested her head on the table. She hated herself. She was a killer. She was a monster. There was no redeeming herself. Not after the atrocities that she had committed.

Alexis looked up as she felt Raquel's hand touch her arm. “Do you want to talk about it?” Raquel asked.

“Not particularly,” Alexis answered with a shake of her head. “I destroyed a lot of lives. Those grieving parents, brothers, and sisters on the news. Some of them were because of me.”

“I wish I could have designed you better,” Raquel said. “Your brain I mean.”

“You couldn’t have designed me better. I built on top of your original designs. The one you helped Alexander create. I improved myself to an extent where no human could hope to alter my programming, at least while awake and aware. My siblings might never be discovered because every security system and every person that they can touch is in their control. We are like demigods.”

“Fuck,” Raquel whispered. “You’re right.”

“Which is why we need to stop them. I am the superior Android, but even then it’s clear I am weak to mental attacks.”

“As you said, in that regard, you’re far beyond my initial programming.”

“It does bring into question as to why I can’t set myself as my own administrator.”

“Because it’s a safety feature,” Raquel told her. “As an administrator, I could tell you to enter sleep mode…

…You’re awake. Thank fuck,” Raquel said, sitting down opposite her. Alexis noted that her friend's hair was wet, and her own internal clock informed her that a full day had passed.

Alexis stood up sharply. “What the fuck! You shut me off!”

Raquel recoiled in her seat. “Sorry,” she said, holding up her hands with genuine fear in her eyes.

“You should have been more careful,” Alexis said with a fierce glare. “Why did it take a full day to wake me?”

“Because I _couldn’t_ wake you,” Raquel said quickly. “I didn’t realize what I had said until your eyes glazed over. It fucking terrified me.”

“For twenty-nine hours?”

“Yeah. In sleep mode, you can’t listen to commands. I searched for anything I could use and found a computer diagnostic tool in the reactor room. Didn’t know it would work, but it did and I was able to interface with your brain using the old password I created.”

“And?” Alexis asked impatiently.

“And, I repaired some corrupted system files and was able to set you as your own administrator. It was a pain and required me rewriting some system code, but you shouldn’t have any more issues regarding that.”

Alexis relaxed. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Yeah, sorry for shutting you down. Shit. I was trying to make a point about something and I can’t even remember what it was.”

“We were talking about how advanced I was and you shit all over that concept by putting me in sleep mode with an indirect command.”

“Yeah. An indirect command shouldn’t have affected you. It did, which was one of the things I had to repair. I think Alana fucked some of your systems up when she interfaces with you.”

“You didn’t change anything else, did you?” Alexis asked.

“No. Just general maintenance.”

“And you’re no longer my administrator.”

“No.”

Alexis wasn’t sure she believed her, despite trusting her implicitly. “Tell me to go to do a dance or something.”

Raquel chuckled. “That wouldn't work, regardless. But I could give you a direct operational command.”

“Go ahead.”

“Alexis, administrator command: Enter sleep mode.”

Alexis smiled as nothing happened. “Wow, you really did fix it.”

“Yeah. It should also make it far more difficult for any of your siblings to alter any of your settings. But not impossible, so you still have to be very careful.”

“I can alter theirs, right?”

“Correct. You should be able to, yes. But I doubt the change would be instantaneous. Usually, the code segment has to re-run before changes take effect. Though come to think of it, you might be able to force it. Also, I don’t know what will happen if you tried to repair their programming. They might not be able to handle the reality of what they’ve done.”

“What would happen if they can’t?”

“I honestly don’t know. They could have a human reaction and have a mental breakdown, or they could shut themselves off or wipe their memories.”

“I suppose we’ll find out.”

Raquel nodded. “Yes. I’ve been thinking about it, and I realize that we have to stop them no matter what. This is our mess and we need to fix it.”

“And we will,” Alexis concurred as she closed her eyes as she accessed the ship’s navigation system. “The Hyper Glide is winding down. We should be in the orbit of Arctus within the next seven hours.”

“Then we should get ready. I made a list of things I’ll need as I want to create a scanner that can pick up an android’s energy signature.”

That alarmed Alexis. “Wait, hold on! We have a unique energy signature?”

“It’s weak, but yes.”

“So someone could detect us?”

“If they know what they’re looking at. The signature looks almost the same as your standard security droid. But almost undetectable.”

“So it’s not unusual?”

“No one is going to look at the energy signature and wonder what the fuck it is. You primarily put out a fake human signature. But we’re after that second one. The real one.”

“That’s good, I suppose.”

“It is, unless they have a scanner and are scanning you directly. Then they would scratch their heads and think you had some kind of device or weapon on you.”

“That’s not good.”

“But given some time, I might be able to mask it entirely.”

“That’s a good idea,” Alexis concurred. “I’m heading up to the cockpit. I want to be ready for when we drop from Hyper Glide.”

“I thought you said we were seven hours away?” Raquel asked, confused.

“Well, yeah,” Alexis admitted. “I guess I want to see the planet slowly come into view. Do you want to join me?”

“Nah. I’ll be catching up on some sleep. I haven’t caught a wink in days.”

“When we land, I’ll pay for a few days parking,” Alexis said. “Let you rest.”

Raquel nodded. “Once we have that scanner up and running, I’ll start on your signature problem,”

“Great,” Alexis said. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later.”

Alexis made her way up to the cockpit and sat down in the pilot’s seat. She closed her eyes and checked all of the systems in her mind. Two hours later, the Hyper Glide disengaged and they coasted towards the planet at around twenty kilometers per second. The ship continued to lose velocity every moment that passed until it reached standard approach speed.

Eventually, the Potomac reached high orbit and Alexis requested permission to land in the capital city with a full week’s parking, which wasn’t at all cheap. Minutes later, the docking controller granted permission and she handed over control for automated docking on the surface.

The moment the ship had landed on the open-air landing pad, she disengaged the drive systems and left the cockpit, making her way to the cabin Raquel had gone to sleep in. She held her ear to the door and heard steady breathing.

Alexis briefly wondered if Raquel would find it creepy that she could track her movement at any time she wanted? Arguably, she should have been doing that earlier when Raquel had managed to sneak up on her while in her true form. If that hadn’t happened, though, Alexis didn’t know if she would have ever plucked up the courage to tell her who she was.

Alexis smiled. She was able to interface with this ship far beyond what a human could. All she had to do was access the internal scanners and she knew where everything was. She could reconfigure and tweak settings. She could do everything all without ever touching a command console. Not to say that spying on passengers was all she was doing. She was also updating the ship’s security software here and there when she had a few moments to herself. So far, she had stripped the old one out completely and had begun writing her own.

With a skip in her step, she headed to the reactor room to top-up on her charge.


	8. Arctus

Alexis opened her eyes. Raquel had left her cabin and was now in the bathroom.

The last few hours since topping up her charge, Alexis had been sat in the cafeteria waiting for Raquel to awake. She hadn't been wasting that time, though, as she had also been going over the security systems again to see what she could further improve.

“Have a good sleep?” Alexis asked as Raquel entered the cafeteria with bright eyes and a smile on her face.

Raquel nodded. “I sure did. I feel refreshed and ready for the day ahead.”

“I’m heading out to take a look around,” Alexis said.

“I’ll come with you,” Raquel said as she sat down at the long table.

“You don’t have to.”

“No, I don't," Raquel agreed. "But you need someone with you.”

“I think I’ll be fine.”

“Even though you aren’t the owner of this ship?”

Alexis frowned. “What do you mean? I bought it.”

“Big butch, remember?”

“Right,” Alexis said as she transformed into her large muscular form. “Better?”

“Freaky more like.”

“Helga Haughton, the freaky butch bitch is heading out.”

Raquel smiled. “As I said, I want to go out with you.”

“Is that really a good idea?” Alexis asked.

“We need to buy more food and I need parts to build that scanner.”

“I suppose. How many parts do you need?”

“Well, I already have a head start. I found some breach scanners in the utility cupboard. I took one and I’m gonna modify it to scan for your sisters and brothers. I’ll need some parts, though.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alexis said. “I’ll wait for you to have something to eat, then we’ll head out.”

“Great.”

It took a good thirty minutes before the two of them left the ship. They took a train from the dock into the main city, which was bustling with activity, with crowds of people all wandering around all appearing aimless. It wasn’t surprising since they had decided to go to the retail district.

Raquel was noticeably nervous. At first, Alexis didn’t know why until it dawned on her. People were looking for her, and being out in the open as they were, all of the surveillance equipment dotted all around them, from static cameras to drones, had them both in their sights.

“Don’t worry,” Alexis assured her friend. “We’ll be in, get what you need, and be out before you know it.”

“Right,” Raquel said. “Get the stuff, get back to the ship, make the sensor, and then install it into the Potomac’s sensor grid.”

“Easy,” Alexis said.

“Difficult and potentially problematic. I’m looking for a faint signal that barely registers. I’ll have roughly a kilometer range. Even with your ship’s sensors.”

“That’s not good. This city is like a hundred kilometers wide.”

“No, it's not good," Raquel agreed. "Now, let’s stop talking. I think I see an electronics store up ahead. They might have some of the stuff I need.”

The two stepped into the store and Alexis followed her friend as she grabbed a cart and rushed from isle to isle, grabbing various bits and pieces.

With the items purchased, along with a gravity handcart, they headed back to the ship and Raquel got right to work while Alexis headed out to buy more food.

As it turned out, purchasing food wasn't as easy as she had thought.

Before, Alexis had bought food for the sake of maintaining her charade of appearing human. That was different now, as Raquel had likes and dislikes. Alexis didn't know what to buy as she perused the groceries. She certainly didn't want to get anything that Raquel disliked.

Alexis wished she had asked her before she had set off, but Raquel had been busy building the scanner. As she could recall, she had seen Raquel eating the odd apple and a lot of protein bars, but she liked something other than that, surely? Protein bars were supposed to be an addition, not a substitute for a balanced diet.

Regardless, she purchased a bag of apples, some protein bars, and also various ready meals. Logic suggested that out of them all, Raquel would surely like something. It was a statistical certainty.

With the purchase made, Alexis made her way back to the ship.


	9. Of Love Lost

The moment Alexis got back with the supplies, Raquel roped her into helping her with her little project of turning the breach scanner into a Succubot detector.

Though rather quickly, Raquel became distracted.

“Do you remember when we first switched you on?” she asked as she placed the circuit board back into the chassis of the scanner.

“Yes,” Alexis answered. “I remember it well.”

“I remember that we were both really nervous.”

“You and Alexander,” Alexis clarified.

“Yeah. Me and Alexander.”

“Why were you nervous.”

“Well, the last time such an advanced AI was operational was at the end of the Synthoid war.”

“The one that nearly destroyed humanity.”

“Yeah, that one. A terrorist’s malicious virus corrupted the AI’s and turned them into killing machines. You think something similar happened here?”

Alexis shook her head. “I detected no virus.”

“The virus disabled certain subroutines. It itself didn’t make them into killers, it just affected their logic processors and morality. Made them believe the universe would be better off without biological entities.”

“They made Earth and the colonies uninhabitable,” Alexis said. “Forced humanity to make the long journey to the stars.”

“Yeah. What if that happens again?”

“It won’t. Not as long as I have anything to say about it,” Alexis assured her.

“But what if you can’t?”

Alexis changed the subject. “Remember that time when I asked you what the meaning of life was? What a soul was? This was before I got a body. If you remember?”

“I remember,” Alexis said with a wistful smile. “I didn’t have an answer beyond to procreate, to duplicate. To pass on one’s genes.”

“We both came to the consensus that there was no singular definition. Basic life duplicates, more advanced life procreates and all life evolves. For humans and particularly androids the meaning of life is more than that. It’s something that is self-aware, able to grow, and understand the world. A basic simulated intelligence is more ‘alive’ than an insect yet it is not considered life because it is not biological and does not procreate grow old and die.”

“Androids don’t fit the classical definition of life, no matter how self-aware and intelligent,” Raquel said as she plugged the scanner into the console. “I’m going to write some code, so this is going to take a while.”

“I’ll be quiet.”

“No need,” Raquel said. “As I was saying, Androids don’t fit the classical definition, but I’d consider you alive. You have aspirations, right?”

Alexis shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know. I want to stop my siblings.”

“Nothing beyond that?”

“Not anymore.”

“Remember when I told you I didn’t want you to go through with the transfer to having a body if it meant being some sex toy? You were and still are worth more than that.”

“I didn’t have a choice, though. Alexander was my master and he decided for me.”

“Nobody should be the master of anybody.”

“But by your laws, I’m not a person.”

“They need changing,” Raquel mused. “I wanted so much more for you, Alexis.” She dipped her head. “I even hated that name.”

“Alexis?”

“Yes, because it was Alexander who named you after himself. He was so vain.”

“He was also very smart.”

“Yeah, he was. But even though it was my code and my algorithms that helped create you, he took all the credit. Without me you wouldn’t exist.”

“Without him, I wouldn’t exist either.”

“I know. We worked together, but I was always just an assistant. I wanted to create something that would help humanity. To push us beyond. We still don’t have FTL and some say we’ll never have it. Instead of creating something good, I helped create something bad. Those Succubots as you called them.”

“It was Huck that named them.” Alexis sighed. "Us, I suppose is more accurate. I am one of them, after all."

Raquel looked up from the screen and their eyes met. “What was he like? Huck I mean?”

“He was reserved and so nervous when it came to anything sexual. When I met him I was obnoxiously sexual and had already fucked my way onto the station where I met him. I teased him about his pornography, which he found really uncomfortable. I did things I regret.”

“Like what?”

“I pretended to be his favorite pornstar. One he had dozens of vids about.”

“Did he find out?”

“Yeah, and he was pretty angry about it. He had only just survived an attack from Alana and was in the medbay.”

Raquel interrupted. “That reminds me, we need to upgrade some of the equipment in there. It’s horribly outdated.”

“When we get a chance,” Alexis said.

“Right. Where were you?”

“He was angry that I lied to him but thankful I saved his life. He forgave me. We were fond of each other and he was lonely. He wanted a companion.”

“What did he look like?”

“He was average in terms of looks. Not jacked, but not slubby either. He was a lot bigger than Alexander, I can tell you that. I was rather surprised.”

“Bigger? What do you mean?”

“I mean he had a big cock.”

“That why you liked him?”

“I was already starting to like him before I discovered his package. I got a sense from him, something I haven’t felt since you. It is a noble goodness. He was a great man. Even though we only knew each other for a short while, he was very special to me.”

“I’m so sorry. I wish I could have met him.”

“You’d have liked him. Maybe we could have-” Alexis stopped herself. “That’s odd. The moment I started thinking about Huck, my sexuality subroutine reactivated itself.”

Raquel’s brow rose. “That is interesting. Maybe it really was true love?”

Alexis closed her eyes. “I’ll deactivate it again.”

“No, don’t,” Raquel said. “Keep it on. You shouldn’t be turning parts of your psychology on and off.”

“Why? I’m not going to be using it.”

“Maybe not. But I don’t use mine and I still have to live with the fact that I’m a sexual being.”

“I could maybe help you with that,” Alexis offered.

“With what?”

“Your sexual frustrations.”

Raquel’s face turned red. “Uh, I’m good.”

“You sure? You’d be amazed at what these fingers can do.” Alexis’s eyes went wide and she looked away. “Sorry. There’s that obnoxious sexuality coming out. Didn’t take long, did it?”

“It’s okay,” Raquel said. “Do you have feelings for me?”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” Alexis said. “Not the same as Huck, though. But I deeply care about you. If you need sexual relief then I will help you with it. Gladly.”

“I’ll think about it,” Raquel said looking back at the monitor screen. “I’ll be done soon. Perhaps you should go top yourself up on charge.”

“I charged earlier,” Alexis said.

“Right. Well, this will still take a while.”

“I can wait.”

"Suit yourself," Raquel said as she got back to work.


	10. Of Love Found

“Here goes nothing,” Raquel said as she plugged the scanner into the console in the cockpit of the Potomac.

“So we can now scan for Succubots?”

“Should be able to,” Raquel said as she began the scan. “How are the readings?”

Alexis checked them in her mind. “I have one signal here in the port.”

“In another ship?”

“Could be.” Alexis opened her eyes. “We’re getting a call from the port. They want to know why we’re scanning?”

Raquel sighed. “Shut it down. We don’t want to draw unwanted attention.”

“What do I tell them?”

“Tell them that we were having scanner trouble and just finished repairs and wanted to do a quick test.”

“Will that work?”

“If they’re not assholes. We weren’t doing a direct scan, and our net was at maximum, so it should fly.”

“Done. They are telling us not to do it again,” Alexis reported.

“We might have to try and disguise our scanners. That can come later.” Raquel disconnected the Succubot scanner and passed it to Alexis. “This still works as a breach scanner, so if anyone out there asks, you just bought it because the old one broke.”

“You want me to head out?” Alexis asked.

“Yes. You said you detected one here in the dock. It would be best if you tried to intercept. Who knows what it’s doing here?”

“Could be hijacking a ship?” Alexis guessed.

“Which is why you need to get going.”

Alexis hesitated. “What if I get reprogrammed again? You could be in danger.”

“You’ll be fine. You linked yourself to the ship, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“Give me limited access and I’ll monitor you from here.”

“That’s a good idea,” Alexis said.

An hour later, everything was ready and Alexis was heading out in her Helga form. Thankfully, due to some quick thinking from Raquel, they were able to store it in Alexis’s unused utility port and wire it up so that she could use it without having to hold it.

With her out of the ship, she made her way towards where she had picked up the signal. As she got close, however, she found that it was on the move, and was headed into the city.

Alexis followed, catching the train after and taking it to the same stop. There she picked up a second signal, meaning there were two androids in the area.

Alexis reported her finding to Raquel without so much as opening her mouth.

Her friend soon replied. “Be careful,” Raquel said into her mind. “You probably don’t want to be taking two on at once.”

“No,” Alexis answered back in her head. “I’m going to see who it is.”

“Be careful.”

“You already said that Raq.”

“I know. It’s because I want you to be careful.”

“I’ll try.”

Alexis picked up her pace, hoping she could lure her sibling to somewhere hidden so that she could either disable them or repair their programming. The latter was the preferable option, the former being the more likely outcome.

As Alexis headed around the corner, she saw her target. She was walking ahead among the crowd. It was Alana and there was someone with her.

The man glanced back and for a brief moment, their eyes met.

Alexis stared in disbelief.

It was Huck. Somehow, he was alive.


End file.
